The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is designed to support asynchronous connection and disconnection between electronic and a USB host. The host is typically a computer. Connection or disconnection may be sensed by a computer or central processing unit (CPU) by monitoring the five volts present on the incoming USB cable shielding.
One method for monitoring the connect state of a USB connection (such as the Intel® SA110 palm device microprocessor) is to connect the USB cable to a general purpose input/output (GPIO) that has a weak pull-down. When the cable state changes (connect to disconnect or vice versa) the GPIO changes state (from low to high on a connect, and vice versa for a disconnect.) This state change can generate an interrupt to a controller and appropriate steps taken. In the case of a disconnect, the interrupt results in the USB input being disabled so as to prevent power burn due to floating inputs.
Many low-power devices connectable to a host have a SLEEP mode whereby power to a CPU or controller in the device is shut off to conserve power while the I/O circuit remains powered up. Under these conditions, the inputs to the USB and some GPIO ports are typically not powered down so that they may remain able to detect a WAKEUP signal or for other purposes. During SLEEP, these inputs can float from state to state while awaiting a WAKEUP signal from a host, thus resulting in power burn. Additionally, the USB cable may be removed or come off during SLEEP, which condition the device should be able to recognize.
A pull-down or a pull-up is provided on the inputs of some devices to prevent float, but to wake the device up through the D+ USB input the external host must pull the D+ line low/high for 100 ms resulting in power consumption in the device while the pull-up/pull-down is being overcome by the external host. For a host fighting an internal square device on an integrated circuit (such as a transistor), the current drain can range from 150 uA to 1 mA.